Novels by Murjaanah M.A

I gripped the leather of the car seat so tightly I was certain my nails would leave marks. The pain I felt was one I’d never felt before in all my life and I was trying… and failing terribly… to keep it together. I couldn’t catch my breath. My vision blurred with tears, and all I could do was gasp, clutching my belly as if I could somehow contain the ache that tore through me. Okay, I’d heard tales about childbirth and even Margaret had scared me with one a couple of days ago, but I didn’t think that it would be this painful. Beside me, Chase was handling the whole situation even worse than me. He was practically yelling at the frightened driver and I was just hoping that we don’t end up driving up a tree with how much tension filled this car. “Can’t you go any faster?” Chase said to the driver, his hand reaching for mine. I could feel his worry, but I couldn’t comfort him right now, not when I was clinging to what little composure I had left. He rubbed my hand. “It’s okay,

ZARA. My heart was pounding when Chase and I got into the car, making our way back to the airport. This entire day has come as a shock. I mean, I had no idea that Chase was planning this. I sat in the car, watching the gorgeous trees in the kingdom I'd call home all my life blur past. Tears were stinging my eyes, but they were not falling. I simply held my husband's hand and from time to time, felt him give me a reassuring squeeze. Still, in the midst of everything, I was still in disbelief and couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Asher and Lina had gone to those lengths to get rid of me. They had been having an affair since the beginning of our relationship and I had no idea because Asher had gone extra lengths to make sure I wouldn't know he was cheating. And I almost married him. Almost merged my life with his. And to rape me? Really? Had I never meant a thing to them? Had I always been a thorn in their sides? Was that it? Had they hated me that much? To be able to g

I took a step away so that everyone could focus on the bouncer as I walked behind Zara’s chair to keep her company for a while. My hands found her shoulders and began gently massaging. She seemed so stiff and in shock and I wanted to do anything to make her feel better. Maybe a kiss. Or a hug. Anything to take off the tortured look on her face. I leaned down to her ear as I whispered. “I’m sorry.” She squeezed my hand on her shoulders and blinked, the words she said shocking me a bit. “I love you, Chase. More than you’ll ever know.” “You’re not upset? I did this without you knowing?” She looked up to smile at me. “I love that you’re protecting me and that’s all that matters.” I squeezed her shoulders again and lifted my head to face everyone once more. “You can speak now!” I ordered the bouncer. “I was hired to make Zara…” I cut him off quickly. “That’s queen Zara of Betnerd to you.” He cleared his throat. “I was hired to make queen Zara look compromised,” he said, look

CHASE. Lina’s voice cut through the council again, shrill and annoying and I was seriously getting tired of her screaming. “So that’s it, isn’t it?” she spat. “You’ve always been the whore. You and Chase, together that night, carrying on like you had some claim to him.” The whore word again? When was she going to learn? Maybe never, because that was why she opened her mouth to Edward and told him about Zara cheating on the bond when they visited. It was why he had the guts to insult her moments before I killed him. And now, even after being caught in a lie with her vile husband, Lina was still going to war for him. I was very impressed by how loyal she was no matter what was thrown their way, but she’d called my wife a whore and I wasn’t going to let that slide, not even one bit. Before she could spit out another vile word, I was already moving. I held out my hand as I grabbed Asher by the collar, and before anyone could blink, my fist crashed on his jaw again. He gasped in pain,

Chase held the pendant, looking around as his eyes met mine. “This necklace held a spell that stopped Zara from feeling any pain when Asher was cheating on her. It was why she never knew.” I swallowed, the hurt and betrayal becoming more painful by the second. “All of these are lies,” Asher spat out, but Chase was not yet done. “Shut your mouth before I order the kingdom priest to step in,” Chase said. “You can do that then,” Asher mumbled, even though I could tell he was scared. “I will. But I also spoke to the priest's daughter who said that he’d made this spell for you, Asher. And how this spell was shattered on the night of Zara’s bachelorette party.” I sucked in breath without moving as the priest was ushered into the room. He’s old and had been the priest of the kingdom for as long as I could remember. The priest greeted the king by bowing his head as he sat on the table with us. Asher and Lina looked petrified. “So, what do you have to tell us about this?” Chase as

ZARA. Excuse me? It took me a moment to process what I had just heard. A whole moment to figure out the rate of my heartbeat. This whole thing looked like a badly written movie script and I had no idea how much I could take in before I began to scream. It started like a play, with Chase revealing Lina’s branded mark, and how everything was slowly making sense. I replayed the night of the bachelorette party in my head, pieces of the puzzle slowly clicking together. I hadn’t been black out drunk that night… at least, not in the way I made myself believe. The truth was, I wanted to fall into someone else’s arms, to escape, even if just for a moment. It was a farewell to my freedom, a desperate attempt to hold on to something I could control before I got into a marriage that felt like a trap. Even if at that moment, I hadn't thought of it that way. Months before that, maybe even a year, Asher became a completely different person. I slowly started noticing that he was not the man I’

Mine?I had no idea what that meant. It made absolutely no sense to me, the same way nothing had been making sense since the accident had happened.I swept my gaze around, fiddling with the cloth that was now wrapped around my shoulders. I shifted back, pressing my back against a tree. I watched as his eyes continued to bore into mine. I shivered. I couldn't understand what was happening."Elian...""My mate, Jerry. I got another mate." He said, the pitch in his voice making me wince.What is a mate? And what was he talking about?Slowly, he brought his hand to my cheeks and lightly brushed on them. I closed my eyes involuntarily, sucking in a ragged breath as the cold wind seemed to hit me harder.He inched his face closer to mine, and I could feel his hot breath fanning my face. He smelt weird. Yet nicely. I itched to rub my hands down his bare chest and...What is wrong with you, Kimberly!? My mind screamed."You are so damn beautiful," he whispered, grazing his lips against mine s

My head was pounding, terribly. It was the only thing that I could feel. I pried my eyes open, but quickly shut them back as another wave of darkness hit me. It was so dark that I couldn't even make out where I was or how I had gotten there.From where I was lying, I tried to move, but my body felt too heavy, and the cold wind blowing across me made things more difficult. I ran my hand down my body, and felt the soft material of my gown.But where was I? Didn't I just have an accident? I touched my head, and my nose, but felt nothing. No blood and no pain. Only the loud pounding headache in my head.It made no sense.I finally gathered up the strength to sit up and slowly tried to adjust to the darkness surrounding me. Bit by bit my eyes adjusted and I could make out the tall trees standing in front of me. In my confused state they appeared like monsters, similar to the stories Mami told me as a kid.I stood up, trying to make sense of what was happening. Was I dreaming?One moment, I

I hated school.As much as I hated studying.That much was already evident from the bored look on my face as I watched Mrs. Flinch explain the process of reproducing. I had to admit that wasn't really necessary. Apparently almost everyone now shags the first person they see in college.Excluding me, of course.I was just not interested in guys, especially those in college who can't differentiate a “yes” from a “no”. All they want is to get in your panties and use you. I was not up for such shit. Currently though, guys aren't my focus.It was not why I had bargained to leave home and settle in Plateau. Plateau was the last city I wanted to be in, but I didn’t get that choice. I needed to go to school and work, and those things were here… but the one thing I loved? That was fashion. I've been told I have great fashion sense. I also love makeup. Despite my busy schedule filled with school and working all the time, I still made it a point to apply my makeup.I sighed, grabbing my phone fr